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- Cristina Johnson moved from Pennsylvania to Belize in 2015.
- Johnson said living in the small Central American nation improved her finances and quality of life.
- In 2021, she built her first home, an accomplishment she said would have never happened in the US.
In 2015, Cristina Johnson, a disabled writer from Downingtown, Pennsylvania, was looking for a fresh start. Due to her condition and the difficulty she was having finding employment in the United States, she decided to move abroad.
Johnson was split between relocating to Asia or Central America. However, after careful consideration, she chose Belize, a small tropical country of 419,137 people located on the Caribbean coast of Central America between Mexico and Guatemala.
"Thinking about the practicalities, Belize just made more sense," Johnson told Insider. "It's an English speaking country and it's driveable. The cost of living is way cheaper and I could also work remotely."
Courtesy of Cristina Johnson.
In November 2015, Johnson packed up three large suitcases and a tote, and hopped on a plane for Belize, a country more than 3,000 miles away that she had never before visited. She has spent the last eight years there, while managing to build a small house at a fraction of the cost of even a tiny home in the US, and a new, peaceful life.
As it turned out, Johnson was a pioneer of a trend that has exploded in popularity during the pandemic: The digital nomad wave.
The phenomenon, which was brought on by the pandemic's surge in remote work, has led to many Americans traveling and living abroad. As of 2022, 16.9 million American workers describe themselves as digital nomads, for a 131% increase from the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to a study from technology solutions company MBO Partners.
The motivations of becoming a digital nomad differ from one person to the next, but for many, affordability is a prominent factor. It's what encouraged Johnson, who is now 52, to make the move to Belize where her bills are around $250 US dollars a month.
With the currency exchange rate being about two Belize dollars to one US dollar, Johnson — who currently works as a content marketing copywriter and earns around $1,200 US dollars each month — has managed to save thousands.
In 2021, Johnson used her savings to build a one-bedroom, one-bathroom home in historic Forest Home Village, part of the Toledo District in the southern tier of the country known for its Maya chocolate. The whole project cost her $18,000.
"I just started building and there were no questions asked about the dimensions of my septic tank or load bearing walls or anything like that," she said. She added that one of the reasons she decided to build in the area is because "the property taxes are almost nothing."
Courtesy of Cristina Johnson.
Johnson said that building a home is an accomplishment she would have never been able to afford in the United States. Looking back, she said "I would have died broke and poor with nothing to show for a life of hard work and effort, despite disabilities."
However, affordability isn't the only advantage of living in Belize. To her, the peace of mind she has gained is priceless.
"I could not even venture a guess on how much I've saved over the years but even if I saved a million dollars, it would not be as valuable as the mental, emotional, physical, and psychological things I have gained."